Watched the new Netflix series "The Witcher" over the holidays. Was glad I had not seen the reviews, which were terrible, because I liked the show quite a bit. It definitely had some overlap with Game of Thrones (fantasy world, lots of sex and violence) but fixed some of the things that had bothered me--women play much stronger roles than the early seasons of GOT and although there is certainly discussion of their more limited choices in a fantasy-type world they have much more agency than GOT. There are three main plotlines and women have the leads in two of them. I also liked the fact that there was more humor in the plotline about the monster-hunter. There's also more time spent with non-elites than in Game of Thrones. The plotting is sort of complicated and they just throw you into it (I guess they think a lot of the audience will be familiar with the video games/books the series is based on) but although I had to pay attention I enjoyed the process of sorting out what was going on. The series isn't perfect--the premiere is only so-so, and I didn't like that they basically sidelined two of the main characters for the finale-- but if it's your kind of thing I think it's worth a look!
DH and I just finished watching The Witcher tonight, based in part on your review, and I thoroughly enjoyed it. All of your descriptions are spot on, IMO.
Lots of new streaming shows seem to dial up the TV-MA bits of (mostly female) nudity and LOTS of cursing, but I found it not to bother me so much on this show. I mean, sure, the orgy was unnecessary, but it also made sense to me that that character had set it up and was bored with it. At least the sex on screen was not violent like in GOT. When sex happens in The Witcher, all participants appear to be enjoying it (even if they might not actually have consented).
The witcher character's use of the word "Fuck" in those moments when there's nothing better to say made me laugh. We can all relate to this feeling, even if we've never before been on the wrong end of the Law of Surprise. I never saw Henry Cavill in anything else that I remember, but I loved him in this.
I was pleased to see the character development in Yennefer. I had no familiarity with the books or video games, and I had expected her to go in another direction (i.e., the way of Fringilla). Ciri is still a bit of a blank that needs filling in, but I'll be there next season to see if it happens.
Overall, a thumbs up from me.